It was something of a routine victory over Norwich City last night, with Leeds doing little more than was absolutely necessary, but the three points took us back to the top of the table.
In the build-up to the game there were suggestions that Solomon and Aaronson were struggling with knock sustained against Wednesday. To be honest I thought we could probably beat Norwich without them, and we might be better off ensuring they were both fit for the vital game on Monday night. But in the event Daniel Farke named an unchanged eleven to start this game.
And what a start it was! In the first minute Aaronson won the ball just inside the Norwich half, and back heeled the ball to set Bogle moving down the right flank. He in turn curled a pass ahead of James, who had little difficulty outpacing the Norwich defence to catch up with the ball before the byline. And when his low cross arrived in the six yard box, Solomon’s determined run saw him get to the ball ahead of Gunn and the central defender, to steer the ball into the roof of the net.
At that stage it looked likely that Leeds were on the way to another emphatic home win, but it never quite worked out like that. Norwich’s injury-hit side showed plenty of resilience and they enjoyed a fair amount of possession during the next 20 minutes or so, but found the Leeds defence a lot better organised than their own, as we kept our shape and there was always someone there to make a challenge whenever they approached our penalty area.
So thankfully there was little for Meslier to do apart from deal with one cross, and his clean catch brought a round of applause from the Kop, a little bit sarcastically. Much of the first half was rather scrappy, and the referee handed out three yellow cards in the early stages before he calmed down a bit.
The nearest we came to another goal was from a deep cross to Bogle beyond the far post. His volley towards the top corner almost caught Gunn out, but the keeper just managed to react in time to claw the ball to safety.
At half time it was a very similar pattern to the Sheffield Wednesday game, with Leeds struggling to break down the opposition after an early Solomon goal, and a feeling at the break that there was still plenty to do before the game was safely won. A defensive slip early in the second half gave us the opportunity to extend our lead, but Piroe’s shot was partially blocked, and the deflection took enough pace off the ball for Gunn to make the save.
Then came the most controversial moment of the game. The ref played advantage after a late tackle by Tanaka, and then decided not to go back and give him a second yellow when play was stopped. That would have been harsh in my eyes, but I grew up watching football in the 1970s, when to get a booking you had to take someone’s leg off.
Farke was taking no chances and soon after he substituted Tanaka and the similarly carded Byram, with Gruev and Firpo taking the field. I wouldn’t have backed this Norwich side to equalise even against ten men, but we certainly didn’t want to have Tanaka suspended for the next game, the vital trip to Burnley.
While taking a peep against Norwich forum I saw a comment that they wished that Johannes Thorup had also substituted his player on a yellow card at that point. Not because Fisher went on to get a second yellow (he didn’t) but because of the part he was to play in our second goal! The introduction of Firpo meant our attacks down the left carried a bit more threat, and after Aaronson got to his cross in the centre, the ball took a touch of a defender’s head and was looping behind.
Fisher decided to prevent the corner by heading it back from the goal line, but then wished he hadn’t as the ball went straight to Solomon. His low cross ran through to James beyond the far post, and the Welshman rifled the ball into the net from a fairly narrow angle. The goal came just as Norwich seemed to be getting some momentum after the introduction of Sargent, but after that it was pretty much plain sailing.
This time the changing of the wingers ceremony took place on 74 minutes, and Ramazani went close to getting another goal with a shot through a crowd of players. It didn’t seem to have the pace to trouble Gunn, but the keeper saw it late, and only just reacted in time to push the ball round the post.
One final change saw Rothwell replaced by Guilavogui, though with the game petering out we didn’t seem to be in need of giving the midfield any extra ballast. Though the big man very nearly got on the scoresheet when a Ramazani shot was deflected wide and he just failed to reach it as it passed the post.
Soon after, the final whistle confirmed that we had gone back to the top of the table, but the celebrations seemed fairly muted. Is it that the Leeds public now turn up demanding to be entertained as well as seeing us win, or was it that with our superb home record we think that beating mid-table sides is no big deal?
With all our rivals also winning, this midweek has confirmed that we are well and truly in another dreaded four horse race, with a ten point gap between fourth and fifth in the table. As we have to play all three of our rivals in the next month and a bit, perhaps we should cut Farke a bit of slack and accept that we might need to save a bit of energy on nights like this, so we can go all out in the games when it really matters.